Ah, Grasshopper, you have yet to learn how dangerous an "easy" NE mountain becomes in winter. Trail? Surely you jest. You can't find the trail, under 6' of snow.

My 2nd time up Gothics in winter, I was accompanied by a fellow who had climbed McKinley twice. He nearly shat his pants, when he discovered that we had 3' of loose powder on top of ice... and no harnesses.

Vitaliy M wrote:Climbing on McKineley twice doesn't make you a superman. Most people go guided, and take the easiest route. BFD...You discovered 3ft of snow over ice on the way up, or down? I don't think the fellow would appreciate you talking about him like that.

I don't think he would mind at all, since "shat his pants" was his expression. He climbed Mt McKinley twice before 1973, when he was a teenager

The steep section on Gothics was short -- only about 700' vertical. The conditions were about the same going up, as down. His group was ahead of me, since I had to escort some folks back down, and went solo to the summit. The folks ahead of me had chopped some steps in the exposed ice. Powder on ice was generally more dangerous.

MoapaPk wrote:The steep section on Gothics was short -- only about 700' vertical. The conditions were about the same going up, as down. His group was ahead of me, since I had to escort some folks back down, and went solo to the summit. The folks ahead of me had chopped some steps in the exposed ice. Powder on ice was generally more dangerous.

MoapaPk wrote:The steep section on Gothics was short -- only about 700' vertical. The conditions were about the same going up, as down. His group was ahead of me, since I had to escort some folks back down, and went solo to the summit. The folks ahead of me had chopped some steps in the exposed ice. Powder on ice was generally more dangerous.

Are you talking about the slabs on the cable route?

Yes. The cables were under several feet of hardpack, of course; even the krumholz was mostly buried; but there were sections with just ice. 1974.

Vitaliy M wrote:Your point is that one could find some sketchy routes under certain conditions on the east coast? I understand that, but it has nothing to do with my sarcastic comment about trail getting covered up.

The special conditions are called "winter." ;^)

No sweat. Kristoria has had a lot of time to think since she started the thread, and she clearly learned a lot. She took comments to heart and changed her behavior. At this point, there seems to be little benefit in making her defensive and hesitant to elaborate.

Closed. As you can see in the photo, the sign-in board is on the outside of the building. If you know the summit, you'll recognize the photo as showing the arcade by the Cog Railway terminal, at the Adams building main entrance.

All the summit buildings are officially closed in winter. The Obs folks will be inside (the opposite end of) the Adams building, but taking in strays is not their job. Nearest unlocked shelter is the basement of the Lakes hut, but, as already alluded to in this thread, going up with a plan of hoping to find an emergency shelter is not much of a plan.